Kings light up Senators in 6-3 win

LOS ANGELES(AP) -- With Ryan Smyth out of the lineup, scoring had
been tough to find for Anze Kopitar and the Los Angeles Kings -
until they started to get it from a few unusual places this
week.

Drew Doughty netted the tiebreaking goal, Wayne Simmonds scored
on a penalty shot, and the Kings beat the Ottawa Senators 6-3
Thursday night for their fourth win in five games.

A scoring drought was behind the Kings' recent slump, with
Smyth's injury absence directly correlating to a decline in the
formerly potent offense - particularly for Kopitar, the NHL
scoring leader when his linemate went down with an upper body
injury.

"The other teams are going to focus on you and try to take space
and time away, but your teammates can come through in that
situation," Kopitar said. "That's what we did tonight. We found
our legs right away, and that gets you scoring easier and
skating better."

Kopitar snapped a four-game scoreless skid with an assist in the
second period on the goal by Doughty, the teenager who has seven
goals this season after scoring six as a rookie last season.
With an opening-minute goal from Philadelphia waiver-wire
castoff Randy Jones, along with Brad Richardson's second of the
season, the Kings are mining alternative fuel sources to get
them going again.

"Obviously someone has to step up when we have key guys out, but
even those who didn't score played well," said Richardson, who
scored on a rebound in the second period. "Guys went to the net
hard and left a wide-open goal for me. Guys are going to go
through droughts without scoring, so that's why we have the
third and fourth lines to pick up the slack."

Justin Williams added two insurance goals in the final 2:33. Los
Angeles scored 10 goals in its first five games without Smyth
before getting 10 more in its last two. Jonathan Quick helped
out, making 27 saves while looking sharp in the third period.

After a swift start, Los Angeles had won two of its previous 11
games in regulation - picking up three shootout wins - before
beating Anaheim 4-3 on Tuesday night. The Kings still are off to
their best start in a decade, and this win put them seven games
above .500 for the first time since 2005-06.

Scoring wasn't a problem against goalie Brian Elliott, who
stopped 18 shots in his sixth straight start. Ottawa needs more
from its former backup, who hasn't rested since Pascal
Leclaire's cheekbone was broken last month by an errant puck
while he sat on the bench.

"I thought we sustained the momentum after we tied it, but Brian
needs to be better," Senators coach Cory Clouston said. "We
needed a couple of saves, and to me, that was the difference.
Brian's fighting the puck right now. He's having some adversity,
or whatever you want to call it, but he's got to find a way to
battle through it."

Mike Fisher scored two goals for the Senators, who have lost the
first three games on a five-game West Coast trip. Jonathan
Cheechoo also scored for Ottawa, giving the longtime San Jose
forward 20 goals in 36 games against Los Angeles - but just
three in his first 26 games with the Senators, who have lost
four of five overall.

After Fisher's first of the night, Simmonds put the Kings back
ahead with a precise penalty shot between Elliott's pads after
he was taken down on a breakaway by diving defenseman Filip
Kuba.

"When I dove for the puck, I missed it, and that was probably
the key for the referee to call it," Kuba said. "I don't want to
say they always call it in favor of the forwards more than the
defensemen, but I guess you could call it either way."

Fisher tied it on a clever pass from Alex Kovalev, but Doughty
put the Kings back ahead on a slap shot early in a power play
moments later.

"It was a frustrating game," Fisher said. "I thought we did a
lot of good things offensively and got some pucks to the net,
but there were some breakdowns. It seemed like every chance they
got, they made the best of it. We just couldn't find enough to
score late. ... We got back in it after being down a couple, and
we were feeling pretty good, but they stayed on the gas pedal."

Quick kept Ottawa off the board in the third, and Williams iced
it when Senators defenseman Matt Carkner coughed up the puck in
the corner, setting up Williams for an easy score. Williams
scored again with 10 seconds left.

NOTES: Kings coach Terry Murray and his brother, Senators
general manager Bryan Murray, spent Wednesday together. ...
Alexandre Picard, Ottawa's top-scoring defenseman, left in the
first period due to an upper body injury. ... Ottawa took three
penalties in 51 seconds late in the period, but the Kings
couldn't capitalize on their lengthy advantage. ... Simmonds has
a five-game scoring streak, the longest of his career.